Panthers prepared to trade No. 1 pick

Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon said he’s fully open for business to deal the first overall draft pick in the NHL entry draft on June 27 — maybe because he thinks the youngster he covets will be there at No. 5, 6 or 7 — so if he can get a live, warm body off a team for the No. 1 selection and move back, he’ll grab it.

That certainly puts the Edmonton Oilers, who are picking third, on alert.

“You usually don’t see that publicly, a general manager coming out like this,” said one NHL scout.

While defenceman Aaron Ekblad and centres Leon Draisaitl, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett are the acknowledged top four on just about every scouting list, I keep hearing the player Tallon really likes is Swedish forward William Nylander, who was born in Calgary when his centre/father Michael played for the Flames.

It just so happens that Florida’s European scout is Kent Nilsson, the one-time Oilers’ bird dog who lives in Sweden and has been pumping Nylander’s tires for some time.

The Panthers, who won the draft lottery last month, moving from No. 2 to No. 1 in the selection order, already have teenager Aleksander Barkov and Nick Bjugstad at centre. The five-foot-11, 169-pound Nylander, who scored six points in four games in the world under-18 championship in Finland last month, plays right-wing along with centre. Some scouts question Nylander’s ability to use his teammates at times, but acknowledge his tools.

“He likes the puck a lot. He’s a flashy player,” said one NHL scout.

Some scouts feel he’s got at least as much creativity as Reinhart, who scored 22 playoff points in 13 games for the Kootenay Ice this year, and Nylander is six months younger, with maybe more long-range upside.

If Tallon feels he can get Nylander fifth, sixth or seventh, that brings the New York Islanders, Vancouver Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes into the picture to trade for the first overall choice.

The Oilers, whom I believe are leaning to Draisaitl if he’s there when it’s their turn, are probably on the phone to Tallon, too. The Buffalo Sabres pick second and Calgary fourth, although Flames president Brian Burke has a history of big-splash draft deals (Chris Pronger, the Sedin twins), so expect Burke and his new GM, Brad Treliving, to be all over moving to the No. 1 spot.

The Panthers, 29th in the final points table, need NHL wingers and defencemen. Their leading point-getter on the wing this past season was Scottie Upshall, with a meagre 37 points. Brad Boyes had 36. Only Boyes (21) reached the 20-goal plateau. As for D-men, they’ve got Brian Campbell, Dmitry Kulikov and Erik Gudbranson as their top three, but they are very shallow in terms of NHL signed experience (Tom Gilbert is an unrestricted free agent and Ed Jovanovski is 38). They’ve got youngsters like Dylan Olsen, Alex Petrovic and Colby Robak, but they need help there.

The Oilers likely feel they can get what they want staying at No. 3 — either Draisaitl or the defenceman Ekblad — because the smaller pivots, Bennett (a Doug Gilmour clone) and the playmaking Reinhart are very attractive, too. To get to No. 1, they would likely try to move Sam Gagner, but he’s a centre. David Perron would be the most attractive winger for Florida if the Oilers won’t move their core players or Nail Yakupov.

Penguins’ move doesn’t make sense

Can anybody really rationalize the firing of Pittsburgh Penguins GM Ray Shero other than Mario Lemieux and Rob Burkle, who own the team?

Lemieux and Burkle seem to think it’s a sin if a team has only won one Stanley Cup since 2009. The last time I looked, the Detroit Red Wings haven’t won since 2008 and have been back to the final just once, but Mike Ilitch wouldn’t dream of blaming his GM, Ken Holland.

Lemieux, of all people, should know how hard it is to win a Cup, having played with powerhouse Penguins lineups in the late 1980s and through th ’90s?

“How many did Mario win? Just two,” said an NHL executive. “It’s an achievement just to make the playoffs every year. You think Detroit wouldn’t like to win more? It’s tough, really tough.”

Especially in the salary-cap era.

I think Oilers senior vice-president of hockey operations Scott Howson should get an interview for the Penguins’ general manager’s job. He put together a good chunk of the Columbus Blue Jackets team that gave the Pittsburgh a major scare in Round 1 of the playoffs.

Howson may have also had an interview in Vancouver, although Boston Bruins assistant GM Jim Benning has the inside track there.

‘Clock of time’ catches Selanne

Local Finland journalist Jouni Nieminen, who works for the Helsingin Sanomat paper, penned countless stories on Teemu Selanne before he quit at age 43, fighting, as Nieminen says, “the clock of time.”

The slam-dunk Hall of Famer Selanne, who was a kindergarten teacher before he was a hockey star, always had incredible foot speed from the time he got to the NHL in 1992 until his last NHL game on Friday, but there was a time when he wondered if he’d ever stay on the ice.

“He got a rare disease in his legs as a teenager and a doctor told him he couldn’t skate any more. His dad took him to another doctor and another one until he found one that told Teemu he could keep playing. He was 13 or so,” Nieminen said. “I don’t recall what the disease was.”

Nieminen recalls the disappointment on Selanne’s face after the Oilers knocked off the Anaheim Ducks in 2006.

“I remember Teemu walking to the bus right after the conference finals in 2006 and Teemu said if they could get some missing pieces, he really thought the Ducks could win the Stanley Cup. He needed to make sure he could be part of it. A few weeks later, they traded for (Oilers defenceman) Chris Pronger,” said Nieminen.

“The last memory is more personal. Two years ago, my son, Aldan, then four years old, was eating his morning cereal while watching TSN. The little guy didn’t understand the word retire. He looked at me with a really concerned four-year-old boy’s look and asked, ‘Daddy, is Teemu Selanne tired?’

“I told Teemu that story that night, and after a lot of interviews with other people, Teemu came over and said, ‘Tell your son, yes, Teemu Selanne is tired.’ “

Sharks could have more moves coming

Parting ways with 37-year-old defenceman Dan Boyle and buying out winger Martin Havlat was expected in San Jose, but the earth-shaking stuff will come if they trade Joe Thornton or Patrick Marleau. Both turn 35 before next season and both have no-trade clauses in their three-year deals (Thornton at a $6.75-million salary-cap hit; Marleau at $6.66 million) that start in 2014-15, but as with most no-trade/no-move deals, there’s wiggle room.

So who would be the easier player to trade?

“I’d say Marleau. He’s got more speed, more flexibility to his game. He can play wing or centre. I think he’s played more wing the last few years, but he could go back to centre,” said an NHL coach. “That said, Joe’s a No. 1 centre and teams are all looking for that.”

Marleau might balk more than Thornton. He’s been in San Jose half his life and is married to a girl from there. Thornton might be more willing to waive the no-trade clause.

The Toronto Maple Leafs would certainly take a run at Thornton, who was born in London, Ont., although he might not like the incessant media glare after the laid-back style of San Jose.

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